Sheridan (Bruce Boxleitner) languishes in a cell, thinking of Garibaldi’s (Jerry Doyle) betrayal and Ivanova’s (Claudia Christian) warnings. William (Raye Birk) a bland bureaucrat, comes in with a briefcase, and men set up a table and chairs. Sheridan discovers he is wearing a Narn pain-collar and is strapped to a chair.
Sheridan has a brilliant light on him. William wishes him good morning while he arranges his papers, and when Sheridan says the lights are artificial and who knows if it’s morning, he shocks Sheridan for contradicting him. William takes a bite out of a sandwich and offers some to Sheridan because it’s lunchtime. Sheridan says it’s lunchtime somewhere and enjoys the sandwich because he hasn’t eaten in two days. William natters on about perception and truth. Truth is subjective. But it’s suppertime and William has to go, revealing that he’s immune to the poison in the sandwich, which will not kill Sheridan but make him vomit all night.
William returns, offers water, which is not poisoned, and declares he will always tell the truth. Sheridan’s father is held elsewhere. William is Sheridan’s only ally. He has a confession for Sheridan to sign, but Sheridan demands a lawyer and a military tribunal. William leaves. The next day, a Drazi is brought in, who claims he was part of Sheridan’s conspiracy. Sheridan pleads for him to let the Drazi go, but the Drazi is strapped to a gurney. The Drazi is expendable, as is everyone but Sheridan. The lights go out and the Drazi screams, and a recording insists over and over that Sheridan will confess.
The next day, William insists again that he confess. Sheridan says they will kill him, but William says only after Sheridan is forgotten. The next day, William admits a posthumous confession might be good enough. Sheridan declares that if the truth is as fluid as William says, anyone can buck the system just by saying no. Sheridan is taken to a room down the hallway with a minister praying for him. Another interrogator comes in—the Drazi he thought was dead.
The intersections in the episode’s title are the continuous scenes filmed in real time. The Drazi prisoner is played by Wayne Alexander, who played Lorien and many other aliens—more parts than anyone else in Babylon Five. Bruce Gray played an interrogator. Except for interrogators and hallucinations, Bruce Boxleitner is the only actor in the episode. Delenn appears without speaking. Babylon Five itself does not appear except in the opening credits. Straczynski said it was not inspired by the Prisoner, but that is hard to believe. Comparisons to that show are inescapable, as to the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Chain of Command” and, of course to 1984. This was the 84th episode of Babylon Five. Some reviewers have said the episode is brilliant, some thought it could be skipped without losing any of the Babylon Five story. I think they’re both right.